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Title details for The Road to Enchantment by Kaya McLaren - Available

The Road to Enchantment

by Kaya McLaren
Amy McFadden
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
As a young girl, Willow watched her mother leave their home in Washington State in a literal blaze of glory: she set the mattress of her cheating husband on fire in her driveway, roasting marshmallow peeps and hot dogs before the fire department arrived.
And with that, she and Willow set off to New Mexico, to a new life, to a world of arroyos and canyons bordering an Apache reservation. Willow was devastated. Her eccentric mother believed in this new life and set about starting a winery and goat ranch. But for Willow, it meant initially being bullied and feeling like an outsider. Today, as a grown woman, Willow much prefers Los Angeles and her job as a studio musician. But things tend to happen in threes: her mother dies, her boyfriend dumps her, and Willow discovers she is pregnant.
The DeVine Winery and Goat Ranch is all she has left, even if it is in financial straits and unmanageable back taxes. There is something, though, about the call of "home." She's surprised to find that her Apache best friend Darrel along with the rest of the community seems to think she belongs far more than she ever thought she did. Can Willow redefine what home means for her, and can she make a go of the legacy her mother left behind?
Told with Kaya McLaren's humor and heart, The Road to Enchantment is a story about discovering that the last thing you want is sometimes the one thing you need.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 5, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781624619250
      • File size: 302890 KB
      • Duration: 10:31:01

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from November 15, 2016

      Within one week, Willow's musician boyfriend moves on, her mother dies, and she learns she's pregnant. She leaves L.A. and returns to New Mexico to take care of her mother's estate. She had always blamed her mother for leaving her father and taking Willow to live off the grid on an Apache reservation. As a young girl, she felt rejected by her father, and as one of a few white girls in school, she was bullied until half-Apache, half-Samoan Darrel became her best friend. Twenty years after leaving home to fulfill her dream to play cello, Willow struggles with her mother's debt and her own feelings. At 39, it's difficult to realize searching for home may mean adjusting expectations while accepting help and love when it's offered. McLaren (How I Came To Sparkle Again) allows Willow to tell a story that goes back and forth from the present to the past, a technique that succeeds perfectly for an emotionally intense work about the intricate relationship between a mother and daughter. As Willow learns more about her mother, the tale becomes even more bittersweet. VERDICT For readers who appreciate flawed characters dealing with the complexities of life.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN

      Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Booklist

      November 15, 2016
      Willow, a studio cellist in Los Angeles, returns to rural New Mexico to clear up her mother's estate after a freak accident. Before she leaves the city, she breaks up with her disinterested musician boyfriend; when she arrives in the country, she discovers she's pregnant. Her mother's debts seem insurmountablewho would want to buy a crumbling, off-the-grid failed vineyard and goat ranch, and how can Willow even think of bringing a baby into her wreck of a life? The ranch holds nothing but bad memoriesan adolescence filled with the isolation of being the only white girl in school while her alcoholic, workaholic mother offered no support. As she reconnects with her best friend, Darrel, his Apache grandparents, and her ability to read prophetic animals in the clouds, she realizes that in L.A., she is alone and invisible. Each epiphany and small success lead Willow to what the reader sees is the inevitable conclusionshe wouldn't get all that land-based self-discovery for nothing. Despite its relatively somber tone, this touching novel of homecoming will draw apt comparisons to early Barbara Kingsolver.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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